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Page 76 MULTI­MEDIA REVIEWS Left 4 Dead Developer: Valve, Publisher: EA Platform: Xbox 360 (review copy), PC When Microsoft launched its underwhelming Zune media player it used the tagline ‘Welcome to the social’. Pity they hadn’t thought of that one sooner, it would have been just as good a fit for their Xbox LIVE service. With over 17 million subscribers pushed by tentpole titles like Halo and Bioshock it makes good business sense to explore potential ways of driving game and hardware sales – not to mention paid subscriptions worth in the region of $300 million and growing. And that’s before we get to PC gaming. The Halo experience has proven the model for console­based multiplayer online gaming, and 2007 saw a new approach to gaming leveraging this social space, using a freeform, sandbox campaign model typified by Frontlines: Fuel of War. No longer would levels have to be played through in sequence; instead, join up with your friends, pick a starting point and go – not entirely unlike chapter skipping on a DVD. Valve, the developer of the much lauded Half Life series, took this malleable gameplay style and applied it to their zombie holocaust first person shooter Left 4 Dead . This survival horror game draws inspiration from a variety of sources, from the classic rpg style of Silent Hill , the frenetic energy of House of the Dead and the fluid gameplay of the most recent Resident Evil games, but brings two novel elements to the genre: a new kind of AI and a style of multiplayer gameplay that demands a constant state of interdependence between players requiring tight formations and combined firepower. Taking its cue from the classic Romero zombie movies the backstory is intentionally vague. Somehow an ‘infection’ has been released (to what extent we don’t know) and four people from disparate backgrounds are forced together to fight their way to safety. The ambiguous plotting is also something of a departure from the genre when put up against its progenitors, with their more overt reliance on ‘science gone wrong’ shenanigans. The current Resident Evil entry, for example, relies on a linear story of corporate machinations and a comic book cast of the bold, beautiful and unrepentantly maniacal, aided by cut scenes to keep things chugging along. Similarly this year’s House of the Dead instalment, the Wii’s Overkill , occasionally tries to ‘inject’ some fun into the proceedings by adding a love triangle, crime lords and a hint of incest – and why not? In comparison Left 4 Dead might seem embarrassingly threadbare but the lack of soap opera histrionics only serves to create an atmosphere of pure desolation and focuses the mind on gameplay. The player has the choice of any four characters: biker Francis, grizzled soldier Bill, Louis, a regular guy trapped by circumstance, and horror geek Zoey. Gameplay is split into four campaigns varying in location from a desolate city to a small town to a disused airport and a typically bloody jaunt in the woods. The campaigns are presented in a similar fashion to a series of four films (albeit stand­alone), with players taking on the roles of the main characters within a The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies 6 Page 77 film about a zombie apocalypse. Valve has developed this to the extent that film posters were used to promote the game, and once a campaign is completed it lists the credits in the standard film format, listing the gamers as having been “starring as...” Each campaign is subdivided into five chapters, all of which are accessible through the main menu. Stuck on a specific chapter? Don’t worry about it, just move on to the next, or change campaign completely. It’s not like you are actually in ‘competition’ with anything – or that your characters will find the solution to the zombie problem. Staying alive long enough to get rescued is all you have to do. It just turns out that ‘all’ is something of a task. The bad guys – perhaps unfair to call them such – come in all shapes and sizes. The Horde represent bog standard zombies/infected who do most of their damage through weight of numbers; Witches, who would rather be left alone to weep but are devastating when they attack; the annoyingly agile Hunters; Boomers, who attract the Horde by vomiting bile all over you; Smokers who use their rather long and elastic tongue to strangle their prey; and huge mindless berserkers called Tanks. It’s quite a rogues gallery but it does expose a disjointedness in the backstory: are we dealing with the shambling, decomposing walking dead of Romero – for shamble they do until roused – of unknown origin, a ferocious 28 Days Later­ style yarn of viral infection or do the range of enemies represent a ‘third way’ of supernatural interference? All three interpretations are open to debate but really they are of little consequence. It’s not like you get the chance to find out; this just isn’t that kind of ride. Instead, Left 4 Dead is intended to be driven, not by plot, but by characters. The uniqueness of the game thus becomes apparent, as the gamers themselves fill the shells of the playable characters, providing the weakness and strengths with their own gameplay strengths and playing styles rather than developer applied boundaries (such as having the old gaming stereotypes of a slow but powerful character, a fast but weak character and an all rounder that everyone wants to play...). Pulling the strings is a new kind of AI developed by Valve, dubbed the Director. There are two AIs driving the gameplay. The first controls the spawning points, intensity of attack and the numbers and location of infected you will encounter. Its role is to keep you challenged but not to the extent that you find the action so tough as to get you frustrated. Replay value is top of the agenda so the game moulds itself around your level of ability. The second Director controls the score and sound effects, issuing audio cues called ‘crescendo points’ used to foreshadow sudden attacks of either individual or hordes of zombies. The conceit will be too familiar to gorehounds, but nonetheless enjoyable for it. Structure aside, the look and feel of the game is strong on atmospherics and, naturally, everything takes place at night. The use of Smokers and Boomers present constant threats to your field of vision, as do your teammates from time to time stepping in the way of shoots and then complaining that you’ve just shot them in the back, although it must be said, on the single player campaign, the friendly character AI is excellent, with fellow, game controlled, survivors regularly healing and saving you from zombie attacks without prompting The character designs, however, do belie the game’s aspirations as a cross­platform success. While perfectly acceptable on a PC one gets the feeling the Xbox 360 is not exactly being taxed. In comparison to Halo or Gears of War the lack of fine detail gives Left 4 Dead a slightly brittle feel, with pieces of your cohorts literally disappearing in front of you in tight spaces. The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies 6 Page 78 Having addressed this much it’s time to get into the real reason for playing Left 4 Dead, the multiplayer modes. These come in three flavours: local multiplayer, multiplayer online and versus – where you can play on the side of the infected. Regardless of which mode you pick two factors are given: the firefights will be frequent and frenetic, and any attempt to stray from your teammates will result in a nasty end. This is not a game for glory hunters or team killers; success demands four guns blazing at all times. This can be particularly difficult when deciding just how fast you should move through a level, whether to concentrate on taking a position and picking off targets from a distance or make a call on who the last person to get on the escape chopper should be. These seem like small points but try acting on them while being chased down by dozens of infected. It’s a harsh lesson on the concept of loyalty. A patch is currently available via Xbox LIVE that expands the versus mode which lets you play the part of the zombies, taking over from the Director in choosing spawning points, lending more of a tactical shooter element in terms of where to place special zombies and when to mass your zombie horde for the final attack that will leave nothing behind but a few spatterings of survivor meat and some temporarily sated undead appetites. Back to single player mode and you’ll find it a much lonelier experience. As the characters have no distinct personalities beyond which weapon they use it can be hard to go back once you’ve gotten a taste of multi­player. What’s more you can virtually walk through the levels if you stay to the rear and do the bare minimum to pull your weight. The other characters will even turn around and heal you without prompting. All things considered, Left 4 Dead is another killer app for Xbox LIVE and a shot in the arm for PC gaming. It’s best to treat the single player mode as a training session for the real thing and as for the plot holes... Caveats aside, go forth and enjoy. You never know when the real thing is coming. And perhaps unsurprisingly, a sequel is already in the works.

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